Governor Calls For Extra $200 Million For Bioscience

FARMINGTON — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called for an additional $200 million in bond money for bioscience development Thursday as officials celebrated the official groundbreaking for the new Jackson Lab building on the UConn Health Center campus.

The money would be spent over 10 years, including $10 million in each of the first two years and $15 million in each of the next two years. After that, the state would borrow $25 million annually for the following six years to help foster future bioscience projects.

Malloy has repeatedly touted bioscience as a future source of jobs in Connecticut, which has been plagued in recent years by a sluggish economy. Some Republicans, for their part, have criticized the Jackson Lab project, saying the state is spending too much to get so little.

The new money will require approval by the Democratic-controlled state legislature, but that seems assured because the two most powerful leaders in the legislature -- Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams and House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey -- were sitting on the small stage at Thursday's announcement.

"Why is bioscience so critical to Connecticut's future?'' Malloy asked the crowd. "On a worldwide basis, it is growing rapidly. But Connecticut has not participated to the extent that we should have been. After all, we were an early leader in bioscience. But Connecticut also has this habit of ignoring its strengths and ignoring its weaknesses at the same time. ... We lost our momentum in bioscience in particular. ... We need to do substantially more in the coming years if we are going to maximize the potential of the investments that we celebrate today.''

Some Republicans are likely to be unhappy with the request to spend even more state money on bioscience. Some have ripped the Jackson proposal as an unaffordable, high-priced giveaway to a nonprofit company that will not pay any corporate taxes to the state or real estate taxes to Farmington.

The crowd was enthusiastic Thursday at the Jackson site on the 17-acre health center campus.

"This is an exciting day for Connecticut, for the University of Connecticut, and for Jackson Laboratories,'' Malloy said, noting earlier project milestones, including new parking lots and demolishing an old building.

"But nothing quite like breaking ground to make sure that everyone understands that we are moving forward," he said, adding that the state anticipates a ribbon cutting on the new facility in the fall of 2014.

"[Jackson Lab is] the springboard in so many ways to what we anticipate what the next 10, 20 and 30 years will be about," Malloy said.

There was some controversy around the state's efforts to bring Jackson Lab to Connecticut. Democrats have supported Malloy's recruitment of the Maine-based company with a $291 million offer to construct a new building and create 300 jobs over the next 10 years. The state Senate passed the measure in October 2011 on a strict party line vote with all 14 Republicans against. The House of Representatives approved the measure on a mostly party line vote with eight Republicans, including the entire Greenwich delegation, in favor.

Republicans say that the state is spending far too much money – including an additional $120 million in interest on the bonds. They said Connecticut needs to be cautious about spending more tax money in a state that recently had the largest tax increase in its history and has the highest per capita debt in the nation. Without architectural drawings at the time the plan was approved, Republicans said the state could not know the true cost of the building, even though it has been set at $144 million for the structure and $47.3 million for scientific and technological equipment.

Sen. John Kissel, an Enfield Republican, said during the floor debate that "waiting 10 years for 300 jobs is preposterous.''

With manufacturing and other industries in decline in the Northeast, Democrats said that Connecticut needs to invest in the fast-growing bioscience industry in order to kick-start the economy to improve the state's 8.9 percent unemployment rate. Some state officials have projected that the venture will be so successful that it will eventually create more than 6,600 jobs over the next 20 years, including other bio-science companies and restaurant, real estate, and retail jobs that are needed to service those workers.

Sen. Theresa Gerratana, a New Britain Democrat, said during the Senate debate that Jackson promises to make future advances in the field of personalized medicine to help in the treatments of Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and Down Syndrome, among others. The scientists in Farmington would study the interaction of genes in an attempt to make medical breakthroughs.

If approved, the additional $200 million for bioscience would be overseen by Connecticut Innovations, a quasi-public agency that specializes in economic development and is headed by executive director Claire Leonardi.